Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner are the 2021 winners of the William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals in the NHL this season. It became official following the Vegas Golden Knights’ 6-0 win against San Jose Wednesday night.
The honor is awarded to the “goaltender(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it” in the regular season. Robin Lehner played 19 games, but the minimum was prorated to 17 games given the shortened season. He and Marc-Andre Fleury are both recipients of this year’s award.
The Golden Knights surrendered a league-best 124 goals in 56 games in the 2020-21 season. Fleury and Lehner gave up a combined 120 in 55 games, while Oscar Dansk surrendered the other four in a 5-4 overtime win March 5 against the Sharks in his only start of the season.
The New York Islanders were in contention with 128 goals against, but Fleury’s sixth shutout of the season helped the Knights secure the award, the first in franchise history.
It is the first Jennings Trophy in Fleury’s illustrious career; Lehner won as a tandem with Thomas Greiss in 2019 with the Islanders.
Fleury finished the regular season with a 26-10-0 record, 1.98 goals-against average, .928 save percentage and six shutouts. He will finish in the top three across the board, including in wins, in the best statistical season of his career. He finished the regular season on a nine-game winning streak.
Lehner went 13-4-2 in 19 starts with a 2.29 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and one shutout. He and Fleury helped the Knights sustain a 10-game winning streak from April 9-April 28.
The Golden Knights are still in the running to win the West Division and Presidents’ Trophy, though it will depend on the outcome of Colorado’s final game of the regular season. The Knights currently hold a two-point lead, but the Avalanche will move into first place with a win of any kind tomorrow night.